The Hill reports:
Emmet Flood, a White House lawyer handling the Russia investigation, was seen Thursday afternoon at a pair of classified meetings between members of Congress and senior Justice Department officials about the FBI’s tactics in the probe.
His attendance—along with the similarly brief attendance of Chief of Staff John Kelly—was a reversal from press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ previous claims that no White House staff would be present at the meetings. The White House and the Justice Department declined to comment.
RUDY tells @dsamuelsohn that today’s briefing will inform Trump’s legal defense:
“We want to see how the briefing went to today and how much we learned from it. If we learned a good deal from it, it will shorten that whole process considerably.”
Exactly what Dems feared.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) May 24, 2018
Wow — @LauraAJarrett saw Emmett Flood leaving the Department of Justice alongside Nunes, Gowdy, Ryan and Kelly. Flood replaced Ty Cobb on Trump’s legal team earlier this year.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) May 24, 2018
Private attorney gets confidential DOJ briefing on an ongoing FBI investigation into his client’s actions.
Folks, that NEVER happens — or at least, it never happened until this president made the presidency above the law https://t.co/YZ3HSiJvl0
— Ron Fournier (@ron_fournier) May 24, 2018
OF NOTE: Trump lawyer Emmett Flood also entered the Capitol with CoS Kelly. They were just spotted leaving the Senate SCIF area
— Marianna Sotomayor (@MariannaNBCNews) May 24, 2018
According to CNN’s @ElizLanders John Kelly just walked through Senate carriage entrance refusing to answer her question on why Trump attorney Emmett Flood was in the intel briefing today
— Jason K. Morrell (@CNNJason) May 24, 2018
Spotted arriving at the Capitol for the Gang of Eight DOJ Briefing: WH Chief of Staff John Kelly and WH Attorney Emmet Flood: pic.twitter.com/aJ1eBGXGAs
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) May 24, 2018
GRAHAM to me: “why he (the president’s lawyer – Emmet Flood) is there (in these classified briefings), I don’t know. That is a bit odd. If the president’s lawyer is there, I’d like to know why.”
— Lisa Desjardins (@LisaDNews) May 24, 2018